


Picking Up the Pieces

by darkelf19



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Complete, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Crack, Post-Season/Series 03 AU, Romance, Slow Burn, alt-pairing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2018-11-18 06:52:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11285958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkelf19/pseuds/darkelf19
Summary: A Mai/Aang one-shot with hints of Zutara.Originally published on FF.net May 30, 2010~*~Continued by request on 3/8/18.This next section takes place several years after the first chapter. Each chapter follows the 3 Sentence Fic Challenge rules. It will be 10 chapters.





	1. Where Do We Go From Here?

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender copyright Dante Dimartino, Brian Konietzko and Nickelodeon Studios.

He turned away, unable to watch them anymore. He was happy for his friends. They’d been through so much, sacrificed so much, they deserved this chance at happiness. Even if it meant sacrificing a happiness of his own.

Wearily he trudged towards the stables needing the comfort of his old friend. The celebratory music drifted lazily through the air unwilling to let him escape his torment completely. He knew he should be mingling with the guests, offering his congratulations to the newlywed, but all he wanted to do was run.

“I guess some things never change.”

He’d jumped when she’d spoken, not expecting anyone else to be here. As her words caught up to him he frowned, then gave her a pointed look. “I wasn’t running away.”

Mai looked at him curiously, arching one elegant eyebrow. “Oh?”

He grinned. “I was planning on flying.”

She smirked, snorting slightly. “Same thing.”

“I know.” Deflated he sat beside her, petting Appa absently. “I just…it was like…”

“You had to get away? Like you were suffocating?” As he nodded she looked down. “Yeah, me too.”

They sat in silence for several moments, Appa chewing absently through their discomfort. The hated music hung heavily in the air around them, reminding each of what they’d lost. For him the urge to run was overpowering. He didn’t so much as stand, as glide to his feet. Appa grunted in response, seeming to understand the other’s need. Both knew the healing effects flying had and now more than ever Aang needed the wind’s caress. Mai seemed to understand as well and stood, brushing strands of hay from her elegant skirts. She nodded her farewell and turned to leave.

“Mai,” he called softly, feeling the need to reach out to another suffering soul. “Will you fly with me?”

She’d stopped when he’d spoken her name and now spun to face him, her eyes unusually wide. “What?!”

He grinned, patting Appa. “Come on, it’ll be fun! We can get away from all…this.” He finished lamely, with a wave of his hand.

“And I thought you’d have gotten used to stables by now Avatar, with that beast of yours.”

He laughed and she couldn’t help but smirk a little.

“Come on Mai. We’re not going to be missed,” he finished sadly.

The truth of his words stung harder than she cared to admit. Seemingly casual she walked towards him, though in reality she wanted nothing more than to run away from it all. As he helped her into the saddle she mused that they weren’t so different after all. She almost missed him telling her to hold on and started when the beast suddenly launched itself into the air. For one terrifying, heart-stopping moment she waited to fall, her screamed lodged securely in her throat. Moments turned into minutes and she slowly let out the breath she’d been holding.

For the first time she looked, really looked, at the world rushing past her. The wind had made short work of the pins holding the elaborate hairstyle together; the strands, loose for the first time she could recall, danced in time with the strange fluttering of her heart. She breathed deeply, just enjoying the cool air against her face and through her hair.

“You’re really pretty like that.”

She looked at him, realizing for one moment she’d forgotten he was even there. “Like what?” she asked rather confused. Did her loose hair really change her appearance that much?

“When you smile.”

She blinked, her hand rising to see what her eyes could not. Beneath her fingers her lips were drawn upwards, her mouth parted slightly. She flushed realizing he was correct; she was smiling. Not a smirk or polite smile or even a smile with hidden intentions behind it; just a smile. Despite herself she laughed, and the sound was as free as the smile on her face. He laughed then too; childlike, tinkering and infectious. They laughed, the wind pulling at her hair and robes, and she felt truly free for the first time in her life.

In her newfound freedom she forgot her pain, forgot the rules of etiquette and propriety her teachers had installed in her and, without hesitation, without masks or walls, she found his lips and thanked him properly. And he returned it, with his own gratitude.


	2. Observe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Note: This next story section follows the previous chapter. Each chapter follows the 3 Sentence Fic Challenge rules. It will be 10 chapters.

He'd grown taller. Where once she'd easily looked down her nose at the goofy young Avatar, he now smiled handsomely down at her.

The effect was pleasantly unsettling.


	3. Playful

"Avatar Aang," Mai greeted bowing stiffly, easily falling into court protocol. Unlike the giddy Avatar, that never changed; it was constant, a familiar comfort in a world that had changed far too much in these past years.

He caught her gaze as she rose from her overly formal bow, a knowing smirk pulling at his lips that caused her stomach flop in that unsteady sensation she'd come to expect when he was near.


	4. Escape

The dinner party had been a great success if the smiles of the Fire Lord and his wife were any indication, though Mai suspected their smiles were for their own private interlude they planned to escape to as soon as etiquette allowed; she wondered how long it would be before another prince or princess joined the royal household.

"They look happy, as happy as they were that night all those years ago," Aang spoke softly, watching their friends share a kiss, "as happy as we were later that same night," he whispered against her ear, warm breath sending familiar, delightful shivers down her spine.

She jerked, straightening reflexively against the unexpected body behind her; a movement he quickly used to his advantage as he slipped his arms around her, cutting off any chance of escape.


	5. The Ones Who Have Lost

Aang was a mystery to her, or perhaps all airbenders were equally detached from earthly vices and she simply lacked a basis for comparison; either way, she couldn't understand how he laughed, loved, so freely having once been so deeply wounded.

Like her, Aang had felt the sting of lost love and yet unlike her he'd found a way to move on from that pain; he'd decided to fall in love again, to fall in love with her.

Part of her hated him for that, for leaving her alone with her fear instead of dwelling in the pain and loneliness with her because - and she was loath to admit it - she was afraid to fall in love again, but he hadn't really left her, had he?


	6. A Big Puppy Really

He'd saved the world when he was twelve years old, mastered the four elements even sooner, and yet nearly a decade later, the Avatar had yet to grasp the simple art of court conversation.

It was clear to her that he'd rather be flying through the sky on that overgrown beast of his that trapped in this stuffy room of politicians and courtesans vying to upgrade their social status by rubbing elbows with the Avatar, and who was she to deny a visiting delegate?

With an effortless grace born of years of etiquette training, she excused them both from the throngs of dignitaries and responsibilities he was desperate to escape, leading him to the smelly stables he much preferred where one oversized, familiar beast greeted them warmly, ready for a moonlit ride.


	7. The First and Last

"Fly with me," Aang offered, gray eyes sparkling mischievously.

His simple request stole her breath as effectively as that first flight had all those years ago and despite her fears she found her hand stretching towards his, longing to climb beside him and glide away into the stars once more; but eventually they'd come down and, just like last time, she'd have to let him go.

Schooling her expression, she turned and walked away; only airbenders were meant to fly forever.


	8. Listening to the Rain

Unlike her firebending countrymen Mai had always found monsoon season liberating, a relief from the oppressive heat that suffocated the Fire Nation all summer; however, this particular storm was failing to provide the usual comfort.

Dreary gray skies, which in years past had brought a rare smile to her face as they chased away scorching sunlight, now caused an unpleasant heaviness in her chest as they reminded her far too much of his eyes; eyes she missed terribly.

Since his departure nearly a month ago she'd come to an important realization about her foolish attempt at self-preservation that night, namely it'd all been for naught, she was already falling.


	9. A Lesson in Politics

"Ambassador Mai," he greeted formally, bowing exactly forty-five degrees as she'd shown him numerous times during court etiquette training and she nearly cried at the wrongness of it all; he was the wind, carefree and wild and she'd tried to tame him.

She caught his unguarded gaze as they rose, saw the flicker of emotion he was trying to suppress and realized that despite her lessons, the Avatar had not mastered the art of politics just yet and truthfully she hoped he never would; let him remain free.

His strength was in his freedom, in his unpredictable nature like the element he was born to while hers was in her rules and the rigid steel she wielded; opposites in every way and yet somehow, inexplicitly, they'd been drawn together.


	10. Blue Flowers

His visit was brief, too formal and left far too many things left unresolved between them, as such it was as his friend – regrettably not more – that she stood stoically in the setting sunlight watching the distance grow between them as Appa carried him further from her reach, further from her unspoken words.

With a heavy heart, she returned to her room, intent on pouring a glass of spiced wine and drowning her sorrows for the night, however, her plans were quickly forgotten by the sight that greeted her; hundreds of Forget-Me-Nots decorated every surface of her room.

Mai felt the tears spill over her cheeks before she realized she was crying and grinned despite herself at his ability to pull emotion from her when she thought she'd so carefully hidden it away; caressing one of the blue flowers she made a promise that she wouldn't forget him, that this was one love she wouldn't let slip away.


	11. Enamor Me

“I guess some things never change,” Mai scolded playfully, naturally having found him hiding in the stables with his great beast already saddled and prepared to escape; he jumped, staring momentarily as he took her in, before breaking into a soft smile as he noticed the Forget-Me-Nots woven into her hair. 

“With all the new acolytes I don’t have as much time for Appa as I used to, so we’ve taken to sneaking out during their evening meditation for some quality air time,” he explained trying to keep his voice light even as his hands tightened their grip on the saddle; he seemed to struggle with indecision for a moment for a moment before continuing, “the Air Nomads were expert architects, but it’s best appreciated from the sky-”

“I would love to fly with you, Aang,” she whispered taking his hand and effectively silencing his rambling; his smile was the only answer she needed but the kiss was a nice touch. 

\- The End -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap. I hope you enjoyed this 3 Sentence Fic Challenge sequel. Thanks for reading! :)


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